More than meets the eye
by The Darklight Angel
Summary: Set in the Battleon High universe. Robina and Valencia: Loathing forever. But what if that loathing turned into friendship, and maybe, just maybe, something else? Eventual RobinaValencia
1. Chapter 1

More than meets the eye

Mkay, this is the side story I said I would start. The main pairing here is Robina/Valencia, and this should lead right up to Battleon High. Remember, it's still set in BH universe, but before. And Robina is OOC, but she gradually slips into her normal personality. This is set in their freshman year at BH. Maria should be in their year too.

This will gradually start from a hatred between Valencia and Robina, to friendship, and then to romantic.

Disclaimer – I don't own these characters. Maria and Natalya are in this chapter, and they belong, to Xenolord.

* * *

Valencia whistled cheerfully, hands in her pockets, as she strolled along in the mall. Grinning, she wandered around. The mall in this city was HUGE! Way bigger than any mall she had ever been to while she was still in Krovesport.

Taking a left, Valencia paused, to examine the clothes on display in one window. There was a pair of leather pants on display. Quickly, she did some mental math.

"So that would be…" Mumbling to herself, Valencia's face brightened even more. Running into the shop, she talked to the clerk, and the pants were taken out of the window.

Proudly, Valencia came out with a new pair of pants, and money to spare. Looking up, she quickly memorized the name of the store. She was about to move, when something else caught her eye.

Right next to the store, was another. With a mannequin (THOSE THINGS MOVE AT NIGHT!) modeling light blue jeans, a tight dark pink shirt, and a pink bandana.

It looked like just the shop, where her roommate would….well, shop. Valencia's smile faded slightly, at the thought of her popularity crazed roommate. Ever since they're little ditty (check BH: The musical) a few weeks ago, they did indeed, loathe each other.

Taking one last look at the outrageously pricey pink clothes, she scoffed, and walked away, to the food court.

Once she reached there, she quickly bought an ice cream. Licking at it absent mindedly, she didn't realize until 5 minutes later that some one was calling her name.

"Valencia!"

Whipping her head to the side, she saw Maria Despair.

"Get your ass over here!" She yelled crudely. Valencia winced, as she saw that all the people in hearing range turned to look at Maria. Some women with children were glaring venomously with her, and mumbling to themselves. Looking at one, Valencia could see that she was mouthing 'teenagers.'

"Nice going Maria." Natalya hissed at her sister. Maria just laughed nervously, and tried not to make eye contact with anyone but Valencia.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Valencia waited until most of the people had stopped staring, and moved over to their table.

"Yo." She greeted, as she pulled out a chair, and sat down in it.

"Hey." Maria said back, as she sipped from the coke she had ordered. Looking over to the other girl, she noticed Valencia staring at her intently. "See something you like?" She smirked, waggling her eyebrows.

Valencia rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself Maria. It's very unbecoming."

"Don't even use words like that with her, I doubt if she understands them." Natalya snorted. Maria glared at her, before opening her mouth.

"I know what it means!" She exclaimed. Natalya raised an eyebrow. "Tell us then, go on."

"Um…"

Valencia and Natalya snickered. "Shut up!" Maria yelled at them, her cheeks flushing.

"Honestly Maria, sometimes you're as dense as my roommate." Valencia laughed.

"Who's your roomie?" Maria asked, as she poked her sister in the side for laughing at her.

"Ms. Popularity." She replied, as she jerked away slightly, to avoid being poked by Maria herself.

"Robina Hood?"

Valencia nodded. Natalya crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair, looking thoughtful.

"Robina, huh? I remember her. Haven't spoken to her, since grade 8, before I got here.."

Valencia arched an eyebrow. "What was she like back then?"

Natalya closed, her eyes, trying to remember. "Well, I do remember that she sure as hell wasn't like she is now."

Valencia looked interestedly at her. "Really?"

"Yup." She nodded. "Actually, I remember a very quiet, and actually quite smart girl."

"You're kidding." Valencia turned to look at Maria, to confirm if it was true. Maria nodded.

"Nope. But there was a couple of things in particular that stood out about her to me though, even before."

"And what's that?" The violet-haired girl asked.

"She was very kind, very polite, and very, VERY insecure about herself. Give her a compliment, and she wouldn't believe you."

"Interesting." Valencia observed, taking in the thoughts. "She doesn't act like it, I assure you."

"Like I said, she is, or was, very insecure." Natalya replied, as she rested her chin on her hand. "But I don't know what she's like now."

Valencia rolled her eyes. "She's snooty, bratty, and popular, and she seems to get kicks out of taunting new students and unpopular people."

"Do you know that for sure?" Natalya countered.

"Well, I've seen her and her groupies taunting some of the other people mercilessly." Valencia pointed out. That was more than enough evidence for her to believe that she was.

"But do you know if she really enjoys taunting others?" The elder Despair asked her.

"W-well, how am I supposed to know that?" Valencia cried. "I can't just walk up to her, and ask her, 'hey, do you enjoy berating on those who have a lower social status than you?"

Maria snickered at this, but Natalya shushed her. Natalya looked off thoughtfully. There was a full five minutes of silence, before Natalya spoke.

"Next time you see her, do something for me." Valencia rolled her eyes, and opened her mouth, but the other girl placed a finger on her lips. "And, no, don't give me any of your sarcasm. I want you to actually do this." Valencia nodded sullenly.

"Next time you see her, check her eyes. And no, don't you dare laugh Maria." She cut halfway through, as she saw her younger sister about to start laughing again.

"Now, check her eyes. As they say, windows are the eyes to the soul-" Here, she stopped again, as she pushed Maria, who's was giggling, out of her chair. After sitting up straight in her own chair again, she continued.

"And take note in what you see in them. A person's eyes can reveal things about them you might not have known." She finished, looking pleased as she got through the last time without any interruptions. Valencia nodded, but only paid half of her attention. Why should she care about her worst enemy, and roommate?

There was a quiet settling between the two. Valencia was playing with her hands, and Natalya was still congratulating herself on her little mini-speech. Suddenly, Maria popped up from the floor, and pushed Nat out of her own seat.

Pointing at her, she laughed heartily, then quickly ran away. "You can't catch me!" She yelled over her shoulder.

Valencia watched, as Natalya stood up calmly, and brushed herself off. Standing still for a moment, she saw Natalya sprint after her, screaming "Maria Despair, you get back here!"

She could only shake her head and laugh, as she got up from her own chair, and ran after the two siblings.

* * *

Valencia came back later on in the afternoon (it was around lunch when she was at the mall). She had had a lot of fun with Maria and her sister, looking around, being shown the best spots in the mall, looking through things at stores. Although, they had been thrown out of 5 of the stores.

Speaking of stores…she grinned, as she looked at the bag she had had from earlier. Clutching it fiercely, she ran over to the small bathroom in a separate part of the room.

After a few minutes of rustling her clothes, Valencia smirked at herself in the mirror. The pants fitted perfectly, just as they had in the store. Twirling around, she modeled them for herself, before nodding in satisfaction. She scanned her eyes over the countertop for a small pair of scissors, that was usually kept there. Seeing it, she reached for it, but stopped, her hand hovering over them.

Right next to the scissors, was a bottle of lotion that Robina always used.

'_But do you know if she really enjoys taunting others?"_

Valencia's smile faded, and quickly turned into a scowl. Grabbing the scissors, she quickly brought them to her hip, and cut the tag off of the hip. Dropping the scissors once more on the table, she walked out of the bathroom.

'Why should I care if she enjoys it? It's the fact that she does it, is what's bad.' Valencia muttered to herself, as she flopped down on her bed.

'_Was very, VERY insecure…'_

"Damnit Nat! Now look what you've done!" She screamed. The only answer, was the thud, as she banged her fist on the nearby table.

Sighing, she closed her eyes. Why couldn't she get Natalya's words out of her head? Why should she care about what she said about Robina? Hell, why should she care about Robina at all?

All of these questions, and many more swam around her head. Opening her eyes, she stood up, and walked out of her door. Maybe a little dinner would help clear her mind.

* * *

The small bell above the door tinkled, as Valencia walked through the door. She sighed with content, as she looked around.

Along with teaching P.E at BH, Yulgar Tavern owned a small restaurant, with a couple of beds for guests. It was probably one of the most popular places for people to eat, since the food was affordable, yet delicious, and the people were friendly.

She walked over to an empty table, and it wasn't long, until a lanky, blonde teenaged boy came to her table.

"The usual Valencia?" Hans asked her. Valencia nodded. Hans smiled, and scurried off to another table, to get another order. Even though she was new to Battleon High, that didn't mean she hadn't been in Battleon before. When she was younger, she would go with her father when he went away sometimes. If they ever went through Battleon, they had always stopped by The Tavern, for a meal. Eventually, she had been there so many times, that Mr. Tavern had memorized her order by heart.

"Here you go then." Valencia was pulled out of her reminiscing, when Hans, (Yulgar's roommates, cousins…something) put her food in front of her.

Valencia smiled at him gratefully, and began to dig in. She enjoyed her meal, for a thorough 10 seconds, before she heard the tinkling of the bell again, and the chatter of a large crowd.

Looking up, she swallowed her last bite, before a sour expression was on her face. No, the food wasn't bad; it was the fact that Robina and her groupies had walked in.

They quickly took a few tables, which were located close to her. From Valencia's table, she had a clear view of where Robina was sitting. Judging by her posture, Valencia was pretty sure she hadn't noticed her yet.

Hans quickly came to their table, with a notebook and pencil in hand.

Speaking to all the tables he jotted down what they wanted, and ran off to the kitchen.

As he left, Valencia saw one of her classmates. That classmate was quiet, and preferred not to talk much. That gathered the attention of the groupies, as they liked to pick at him for it.

"Well, well, look who it is!" One of them called out, as they caught sight of him. He froze, as he heard the groupies' voice. "It's the amazing anti-social freak!"

Her classmate bit his bottom lip, but stood firm. Walking over to another empty table, he sat down at it. They jeered at him, and threw insults his way.

"Go back home, ya pansy!"

"It's amazing who they let in schools these days!"

The insults kept coming, but he didn't say anything. He just sat there, stiffening up a little more each insult. Finally they stopped, and just began to laugh at him.

Robina was laughing along with them.

And no matter how much she didn't want to, she looked into Robina's eyes.

And there sure as hell wasn't any twisted pleasure in them.

* * *

Yup yup, first chappie, all done! I'll type another one soon! 


	2. Chapter 2

More than meets the eye

Okay. Sorry I don't have names for the chapters, but I'm not sure what to call them. Anyways, here's the second chapter. Hope you'll like it.

Disclaimer – I don't own any of these characters.

The start of this chapter takes place at the same time as the first one does, although it's Robina's day. And, it's a bit serious, but a serious plot bunny hopped along, and yeah.

* * *

Robina hummed as she walked along the mall corridors. She was no stranger to the place; in fact, she was surprised when no one acknowledged her by her name when she went into certain stores. She certainly shopped there enough. She might have spent a fortune on clothes from their shops.

Not that she initially wanted to. Oh no, she didn't really have any craving or needing for their clothes. In fact, she would have settled for something less fancy. Actually, she would have loved to get something less fancy (and less expensive too). She didn't really like to flaunt herself, or the clothing she had. She was more of a humble type.

But then again…not that many people knew that she was the humble type.

'_Certainly not the people at school_.' She thought bitterly to herself. For all she knew, the people at school thought she was a brazen show-off, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

No one could guess, not even her closest 'friend', that she felt really uncomfortable being popular. She let out a small chuckle. The most popular girl in school, hating popularity. Or, not so much popularity, but what one had to do to be popular.

You had to have the right clothes. You had to know the right things to say. You had to know what was hot at the moment. You had to poke fun at other people.

Robina hated the last thing most of all. The others would have a good laugh at some other persons expense, but every time, Robina had to force it out of herself, even though she always had an empty, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach after.

She honestly did not see how they could take pleasure in someone else's pain. She saw not point in laughing at it, unless the person who had gotten hurt could laugh at their fall themselves. But emotional pain was the worst.

If they did show any outward sign at all, Robina hated to see it. The slight twitch, a jaw clenching, or the sad look as the person let their eyes fall, and refuse to make eye contact.

Every single time she would see that, it hurt her on the inside. She could feel the other's pain. And she would never get used to seeing that, no matter how much she saw it while hanging with her groupies.

But there was one person who didn't give off any of those outward signs.

And that was the person, that Robina happened to see, examining some pants in a window, outside of one of the places where she spent a lot at.

Valencia Rogue.

Whenever the popular crowd, or someone in it, would pick at Valencia, she would just roll her eyes, and deliver a cutting comeback.

Robina noticed that she had confidence. Her roommate was laid-back, and a bit of a bad girl. She didn't care what other people thought of her. She was gutsy. The most popular girls in school would mock her, point at her, say things about her, and all Valencia would do was flip them the bird, and walk off, smirking at their disbelieving faces.

Robina snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Valencia, who had gone into the store, come back out. Quickly, she hid behind a nearby large potted plant. Valencia didn't notice her, and walked down the hallway to the food court.

Robina sighed. She moved away from the plant, and sat down on a bench, once again becoming absorbed in her thoughts.

And Robina, no matter how much she would deny it at the time, admired that gutsy trait. One of the reasons she supposedly hated Valencia, was for that trait.

In fact, it wasn't that, that Robina hated, it was the fact that she herself was too scared to act like that.

Robina gaped like a fish at her revelation. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. And the more she thought about how it made sense, the more her 'hatred' for Valencia began to fade.

But she couldn't let anyone know that. Not yet, at least. Not if she wanted to keep the security of her crowd.

_-That night, at The Tavern-_

Robina laughed at the student. And there was the sick feeling. Right on time.

She didn't want to laugh at him, but if she didn't, the group would ask what was wrong with her. And then, if they thought something was really wrong with her, they would abandon her, and make fun of her, and…

_No. _She commanded herself silently. _Don't think of that now. _

And she kept on laughing. And as she laughed, someone caught her eye. Turning her head a bit, she saw Valencia Rogue staring at her. Directly into her eyes. And it was if they had a silent conversation, through that look.

_Why do you do this, if you don't-?_

_I can't tell you right now._

_When then?_

_Later on. When we get back to the dorm._

Valencia took her answer, and turned back to her dinner in front of her. As the crowds laughter died down, and Hans came by with their food, Robina took her plate, and began to eat. But she couldn't taste the food, because she was concentrating too hard on what she was going to say.

* * *

-Back at the dorm-

Robina sat down on her bed, and twiddled her thumbs. Robina had left a little bit earlier than the rest of her gang, and Valencia was scarfing down the last of her dessert when she left.

She took a deep breath, and tried to quickly memorize the little speech she had prepared in her head.

But all the thoughts disappeared, when Valencia walked into the room.

Valencia swiftly walked past her, into the washroom, to get ready for bed. Robina didn't mind; she had already finished up when she had gotten back.

Robina watched as Valencia milled around the room, tidying up things on the floor, pointedly ignoring Robina. She didn't mind; she wasn't looking forward to their conversation either.

When Valencia fixed everything in the drawers of her night-side table for the 3rd time, she couldn't take it anymore. Silently, she sat on her bed, and turned to face Robina, and stare her directly in the eyes. Robina stared back for a few moments, before she broke down, and looked away.

"So." She mumbled. "I suppose your going to tell everyone now?"

Valencia looked confused. "Tell everyone what?"

"That I'm not exactly who everyone thinks I am." Robina said, giving her a 'duh' look.

"Why would I do that?"

"I thought you hated me?"

"Well…" Valencia trailed off, as she looked away, thoughtfully. "I do. At least I thought I did. " She sighed, before turning back to her. "Look, A friend of mine gave me some very good advice today, and I decided to take it. And taking it made a difference already."

"How so." Robina asked quietly.

"Just by taking her advice, I saw something that probably no one has ever seen."

"Well, that parts true at least." Robina murmured quietly. Valencia shrugged, and ran a hand through her hair. "Can I ask you something?" She asked.

"What's that?"

Valencia got down on all fours on her bed, and stretched like a cat. "What did you mean by your not exactly who everyone thinks you are?"

"I thought you'd figured that out already?" Robina said, looking quite confused.

"No, I just realized that you aren't as shallow as everyone thinks you are." Valencia admitted, as she got up from her position, and lay down on her bed. "So, would you clear things up for me?"

Robina sighed. "Fine." She lay down on her own bed, similar to how Valencia was laying, and stared at the ceiling.

"First of all, I am not as bitchy as I bet you think I am." The guilty look on Valencia's face proved that. But after, Robina went into a thoughtful silence. She stayed like that for 5 minutes, until Valencia coughed. "So, is that it?"

"No. that's not all of it." Robina said flatly. Valencia once again shrugged, and turned to her side to face her roomie.

"So…tell me more about this person who you really are."

Robina didn't turn to face her. Instead of speaking directly to Valencia, she simply spoke out.

"Well…I don't like to speak out much." She started out slowly, almost cautiously. Valencia gaped. "Really?"

Robina made a noise of agreement. Feeling a little more comfortable than before, she continued on. "And I don't really like the popular people."

"Well, there's one thing we have in common." Valencia chuckled, and turned onto her back. A small smile spread on Robina's face. "Yeah, I guess it is." There was a pause. "Kinda odd now that I think about it."

Robina twisted her head over just a bit, so she could see the frown on Valencia's face. "Actually, you're right. Speaking of odd, why do you hang out with them if you don't like them?"

"Well…another thing about me…" Taking a deep breath, she spoke again. "I'm actually really insecure."

"And what exactly does that have to do with you disliking the popular crowd?"

Robina gave her a 'wtf?' look out of the corner of her eye, but began to speak again. "I only hang out with them, because I need to be secure."

Valencia turned on her side again, and nodded slowly. "And that's the only reason?"

Robina herself turned on her side, and nodded. "Yup. To tell you the truth, I don't even like being popular. If I could, I wouldn't be."

Valencia nodded, and Robina watched as an odd little smile spread on her face. "What're you smiling for?"

Valencia sat up, and met yes with her, whilst still smiling. " You said you told the truth."

Robina looked puzzled for a minute, before smiling herself. "Yup I did."

The two just sat in silence, smiling at each other, before Valencia yawned. "Well, I'm beat. I'm gonna turn in now. Night Robina."

And with the impromptu statement, Valencia pulled her covers off of the bed, before getting in, and falling immediately asleep.

Robina stared at her for a minute. Then, she pulled the covers away from her own bed, and slipped in. "Night Valencia." She mumbled.

After the talk with Valencia, Robina felt better. Maybe it was because she had finally revealed her little secret to someone, after a long time, or because she was finally at peace with her roomie.

But because of whatever it was, Robina fell asleep with a smile on her face, for the first time for a long time, and for the first time of many nights to come.

* * *

Hope you liked it. More to come soon. 


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